The Crisis World XX

Chap. 17: Herlin vs Inugami

"There must be other creatures besides the Inuijin. Am I wrong? The Unseen, Inugami."

The beast flashed a grinning smile as Herlin found out who he really was. The Inugami was completely shocked by the one handed over by the villagers this year.

"Hehehe .. Very interesting. Are you the victim they gave me? Why did they send him so long?"

The wolf circled around Herlin sniffing his hair and head, but Herlin just remained silent without the slightest reaction. It was like letting the creature touch him. But after sniffing a few times, the Inugami looked unhappy with Herlin.

"Wait a minute, all I ask is a girl with a state that is still sacred and has not sinned."

He let out a voice that echoed and boomed to the corners of the forest. The Inugami suddenly brought his head closer to Herlin's head which was only the size of his soles.

"But why would they send a sinful creature like you? It's not what I want."

"Huh …."

Herlin sighed. He looks not afraid at all with Inugami who has a size that far exceeds him. He seems to have experience in dealing with creatures like Inugami.

"Hn?"

"What makes you think I'm a sinful creature?"

Herlin stared straight into Inugami's eyes as if he was not afraid at all. The Inugami then raised one of its claws and pointed it towards Herlin's eyes. His claws were really close to his eyes.

"your eyes. The eyes of a person never lie. Even if your mouth and heart are lying, your eyes will not be able to cover it. A person's experience is measured by how deep his eyes look, and I'm sure you're very experienced at killing because it's obvious from the glare of your eyes."

Herlin glanced slightly at Inugami's claws then looked back at his eyes. He took out his right hand from his pouch and kept Inugami's claw away from his face.

"It's true that I'm very used to murder. But …."

Herlin turned the gaze of his eyes into a very deep and piercing one. The Inugami could even feel how piercing the gaze of Herlin was.

"Hn?"

"… When it comes to sin itself, we are not much different, are we?"

"Huh…!! Ahaha…!! AHhhaHaha…!!"

The Inugami laughed so hard that the trees around here shook violently and the birds perched on the trees flew away.

"Creatures that have only lived for a few years have dared to talk to me like that?! To a forest master like me?! You're a really interesting tumble!"

Criiing…

Inugami slid his large, sharp claws towards Herlin's forehead at a speed that no ordinary person's eyes could follow. So fast, to make the wind blow strong and the trees behind Herlin almost collapsed due to the wind.

But Inugami's attack stopped before he could even touch Herlin's forehead, he seemed to only test how this opponent would react if there was such an impromptu attack. But his guess missed.

Herlin did not react at all. He didn't even look at Inugami's claw strike earlier. It was like knowing that what Inugami did was just a test.

"Hoo~ you're not hooked on something like this huh?"

"Are you done messing around? Are we going to be serious from now on? You know you're not gonna win, right? Because if I'm in trouble, someone's gonna help me."

The Inugami kept its claws away from Herlin's face. He looked to the right and the trees were dark and there was nothing, but he felt something strong from there. While focusing on feeling his presence, the Inugami turned more serious.

"So what I've been feeling all along is related to you? Did you run a contract with him? What kind of deal? By blood? Or your life?"

He started talking about the contract. What Inugami meant was Herlin's contract with The Unseen. Because if he wants to work together, there must be a contract that they both have to agree on.

"The contract you're talking about has been in place since I was a kid. Do you mind that?"

"Very. Weak creatures like you are no match for a contract with him."

The gazes of the two of them were extremely sharp and were trying to intimidate each other. But both did not succeed.

"Then try to avoid this one."

Swuush…

"Ap—!"

Craassh…

An invisible attack shot out from the right direction of the trees that Inugami had seen before. And before he had time to react, Inugami's head was cut off and then fell to the ground and rolled near the feet of Herlin standing.

"It turns out that only the body and its speech are large, inversely proportional to its ability."

Herlin glanced towards Inugami's head below him then intended to leave from there and immediately catch up with Iraya. But before he left, he felt the movement of Inugami's body.

"…??!!"

Herlin was surprised to see Inugami's body take his head apart from his body. Even more surprising, Inugami can install it easily.

"You think you've won? Are you underestimating me."

Sryiiig…

The Inugami then launched an attack with its claws, but Herlin could still dodge each of his attacks with ease.

"RaaArrRgghhh…!!!"

Sryiiig…

His speed of Inugami's attack increased to double and still continued to increase until Herlin could not see his attack.

Sryii…

"Guk…!"

A scratch managed to make a deep enough wound in Herlin's left abdomen and made him grimace. After being hit by the attack, he again got a heavy attack from the Inugami punch that threw him far back and only stopped when he hit a tree.

Braakkh…

"Akhaz…!"

Herlin spewed blood from his mouth due to the force of the clash between him and the tree behind him.

"Do you understand the difference in our strength?"

The Inugami walked closer to Herlin. While Herlin painstakingly tried to get back on his feet. Although the attack was very strong, Herlin's body was no stronger than that of a 15-year-old girl.

"You're not stronger than me. You're only strong because of the contract you have!"

"…."

"I hope you don't regret your words just now. Because right now, he's really mad at you."

"Hn? Ahhaha…! Are you gonna scare me? Do you understand that it won't work you weakling?! Ahaha…!"

"…."

Herlin did not answer. But suddenly the atmosphere around them changed to terrible—although the air released by Inugami daritadi terrible, but now it turned into even more terrible.

"Hn?"

Inugami who felt that way, gradually began to lose his confidence until he pulled out the grains of sweat from his forehead. The atmosphere here was so gripping that it could make ordinary people vomit even fall unconscious because of its aura itself.

Aaaaaaaa..~.

A beautiful but also creepy chanting sound currently echoing within the forest out of nowhere. Inugami who heard it began to lose his composure and looked uneasy.

"What is this voice?!"

The chanting continued to become even more beautiful. The chants turn out to be so beautiful that they will hypnotize you when you hear them. Makes you want to kill yourself if the chant stops.

And at the moment the chant stopped, behind Herlin appeared a transparent mature woman who over time became solid.

The beautiful woman was wearing a plain white dress, her long white hair all the way to the tailbone. Her pale skin that can be compared to the beauty and cold snow, as well as the iris of blue eyes that can make anyone who sees her hypnotized for her beauty. It is truly a perfect masterpiece.

The woman's feet floated above the ground. He floated gracefully and calmly as if gravity had no effect on him.

"Who is he?"

Inugami who noticed her daritadi could not hide her admiration for the beauty of the woman he saw.

Herlin did not answer. The aura released by him right now was truly terrifying and not inferior to the woman behind him. Then Herlin called out the name of the woman behind him.

"Banshee …."

The woman brought her beautiful face closer to Herlin in order to hear her words clearly.

"Destroy him."

After hearing the order from Herlin, the woman took her face away from Herlin's face and looked at Inugami. Now the woman's gaze was focused entirely on Inugami.

"GeeeyyYAAaaHh…!!!"

The terrifying screams coming out of the woman—Banshee along with her face that instantly turned sinister, sadistic, and merciless. His fingernails also became elongated and sharpened. The aura he exuded was very much different from just a moment ago.

Swuush…

Banshee disappeared with a flash and simultaneously made Inugami panic. He looked to his right and left to see Banshee's whereabouts but his eyes could not keep up with her movements.

"Where is he?"

Swuush…

The banshee moved so quickly that it created a gust of wind as it moved. Inugami felt something he had never felt before in his hundreds of years. Yeah, it's fear. His fur that stood in fear and a sense of helplessness towards his current opponent, that was how he felt right now.

"Do you feel it now …?"

"Eh?!"

"… That fear."

"Jn …!"

Inugami now felt fear with Herlin's deep, horrified eyes. He tried to run and retreat from that place. But Banshee didn't let him run that easily.

Sryi…

"GaaRggHh …!!"

Inugami's two front legs were quickly cut off and made him lose his balance and collapse to the ground. But he is still trying to regenerate.

Sryi…

Then quickly his two hind legs also separated from his body which made him even more helpless.

"To-Help me!!"

The inugami thrashed and howled very loudly as it felt pain. His regeneration was now slowing down because his mind was unsettled and filled with fear.

"It's time to end this. Banshee …."

The banshee with a sinister face that instantly stopped to wait for orders from Herlin, this time attacking again.

Sryiiig…

"To-Please a .. I …."

A slash whose speed almost matched the speed of sound from Banshee's sharp fingernails left Inugami's body chopped up and made him into small pieces of flesh and pools of blood.

Herlin then approached the piece of Inugami's flesh and blood. As he knelt down and looked at the small flesh, suddenly appeared a child-sized glowing wolf looking at Herlin with a funny protruding tongue. The wolf has the same fur pattern as Inugami, but what distinguishes it is its size which becomes the size of a wolf cub in general.

"Youth !!"

Herlin pointed his hand at the head of the little wolf intending to stroke it. But just as he was about to touch it, his body slowly turned transparent and Herlin's hand pierced through the wolf's head.

Shiii…

Slowly the wolf began to fade and the light surrounding it also dimmed. His small body also turned transparent and increasingly faded. Then the wolf completely disappeared and left a speck of light that flew up into the sky.

Herlin raised his hand and prayed for the Inugami.

"Hopefully calm down there."

After which, he stood up and walked back to where Iraya was fighting. The banshee returned to normal and gradually became transparent and completely disappeared.

The leader of the Inuijin herd, Inugami. Successfully defeated.

Seriate